PHL 317K Introduction to Philosophy of the Arts Spring 2014

Home , Timothy Binkley

Unique # 43270, 43275, 43280

TIME: Tuesdays and Thursdays, 2:00-2:50 p.m. and a third hour

LOCATION: WAG 302 (TTH 2:00 – 2:50 p.m.) (Check your schedule for third hour location)

INSTRUCTOR: Prof. Kathleen Higgins

OFFICE: WAG 203 (512) 471-5564

OFFICE HOURS: Tuesdays and Thursdays, 10:45-11:45 a.m.

E-MAIL:

COURSE DESCRIPTION: This course will consider some of the answers given in the Western philosophical tradition to questions about the nature of art and beauty, as well as offering a brief overview of some perspectives from Japan. Particular attention will be given to the distinction between art and reality, and to the nature of the aesthetic experience from the standpoint of both the artist and the observer.

TEACHING ASSISTANT: TBA

TEXTBOOK: Kathleen Marie Higgins, ed., Aesthetics in Perspective

POLICIES:

Late assignments will automatically receive ten fewer percentage points than they would otherwise have received. Late assignments will not be accepted more than one week after the date due. Late assignments will not be accepted after the last day of class.

Makeup exams or extensions will be arranged only in situations of an emergency or serious illness. The instructor may ask for evidence.

Students with disabilities may request appropriate academic accommodations from the Division of Diversity and Community Engagement, Services for Students with Disabilities, 471-6259

GRADING AND IMPORTANT DATES:

January 23 Short paper due 5%

February 13 Exam I 15%

March 6 Journal entries 1-6 due 10%

March 20 Exam II 15%

April 17 Exam III 15%

April 29 Journal entries 7-12 due 10%

May 1 Final written project due 20%

Participation (includes attendance, in-class writing, in-class quizzes, etc.) 10%

GRADING: Grades will be computed using the plus-minus system. The breakdown is as follows:

A 92-100 A- 90-91 B+ 87-89 B 82-86 B- 80-81 C+ 77-79 C 72-76 C- 70-71 D+ 67-69 D 62-66 D- 60-61 F 0-59

THIS COURSE WILL NOT HAVE A FINAL EXAM.

SECTIONS:

Unique #43270 Friday, CLA 0.118 12:00 noon-1:00 p.m. Unique #43275 Friday, 1:00-2:00 p.m. CLA 0.120

Unique # 43380 Friday, 2:00-3:00 MEZ 2.122

SYLLABUS

January 14 Introduction: What Is Art For?

TRADITIONAL QUESTIONS ABOUT BEAUTY AND ART

January 16 What Is Beauty and Why Do We Care about It? (Plato’s Account)

Readings: Plato, “The Form of Beauty” and “Beauty’s Influence” (p. 11-23)

To think about for class: Poet John Keats wrote “Beauty is truth/Truth beauty”? What do you think this means?

January 21 Where Does (Good) Art Come From?

Readings: Plato, “Inspiration as Magnetism” (pp. 278-281)

To think about for class: Why do we value artistic originality (if we do)?

January 23 How Does Art Relate to Reality? - J1

Readings: Plato, “Art and Appearance” (pp. 114-121)

SHORT PAPER DUE

January 28 Tragedy in Art: What Do We Like about It? – J2

Reading: Aristotle, “The Form of a Tragedy” (pp. 24-30) and Aristotle, “Constructing a Tragedy” (pp. 282-283)

To think about for class: Why do we like to see tragic movies?

January 30 On What Grounds Should We Criticize Art? – Contemporary Uses of Ancient Theories

Reading: Mark Crispin Miller, “Advertising – End of Story” (pp. 350-358); Alexander Nehamas, “Plato and the Mass Media” (pp. 184-189)

February 4 Is Beauty in the Eye of the Beholder? – J3

Reading: David Hume, “Of the Standard of Taste” (pp. 31- 43)

To think about for class: Is War and Peace necessarily better than Harry Potter (any volume)? Why or why not?

February 6 Is Beauty the Ultimate Aim of Art? (The Sublime and Another Take on Tragedy)

Reading: Friedrich Nietzsche, “On Beauty and Ugliness” and “Apollo and Dionysus” (pp. 54-62)

February 11 Review

February 13 Exam I

February 18 Can Anything at All Be Beautiful? (Kant’s Analysis of Aesthetic Experience) – J4, J5

Reading: Immanuel Kant, “The Four Moments” (pp. 44-48); Edward Bullough, “Psychical Distance” (pp. 164-167)

To think about for class: Can you be wrong when you think something is beautiful?

Can graffiti be beautiful? Why or why not?

February 20 Is Appreciating Beauty a Common Human “Sense”? ⎯ The Issue of Universality

Reading: Immanuel Kant, “The Four Moments” (pp. 48-53)

February 25 How Does Kant’s Model Apply to Art? Where Do Artists’ Intentions Fit In? How Relative Is Human Beauty?

Reading: Immanuel Kant, “The Nature of Genius” (pp. 284- 286)

To think about for class: How much do Barbie dolls and touched-up images dictate our standard of beauty?

February 27 What Does Art Reveal about the Temper of the Times? – J6

Reading: G. W. F. Hegel, “The Ages of Art (pp. 446-450)

CONTEMPORARY ART

March 4 Why Has Art Changed Over Time?

Reading: John Berger, “Oil Painting” (pp. 464-466)

March 6 Have We Reached the End of Art?

Arthur Danto, “Approaching the End of Art” (pp. 454-460)

JOURNAL ENTRIES 1-6 DUE

SPRING BREAK

March 18 Review

March 20 Exam II 6

March 25 What Makes It Art? - J7

Reading: Arthur Danto, “The Artworld” (pp. 68-74)

To think about for class: Why do we (or at least most of us) care whether an artwork is a forgery?

March 27 Does Anything Go?

Reading: Timothy Binkley, “Piece – Contra Aesthetics” (pp. 88-97); Leo Tolstoy, “What Is Art?” (pp. 362-364)

To think about for class: Does someone’s saying that something is art make it art? Does it matter whether the person is an artist?

ART, ETHICS, AND POLITICS

April 1 Are We Being Taken In? (Modern Art, Public Art, and Art’s Social Function) – J8

Readings: Tom Wolfe, “The Worship of Art: Notes on the New God” (pp. 246-250); Karsten Harries, “The Ethical Significance of Modern Art” (pp. 195-204)

April 3 What Is Kitsch and What Kind of Bad Art Is It? – J9

Readings: Milan Kundera, “The Nature of Kitsch” (pp. 397- 398); Matei Calinescu, “Kitsch and Hedonism” (pp. 299- 403)

April 8 Does Art Challenge or Reinforce Stereotypes? Or Both? – J10

Readings: Robert Gooding-Williams, “Look, A Negro!” (pp. 530-538) and Noël Carroll, “The Image of Women in Film” (pp. 567-574) 7

To think about for class: What is an example of a film that reinforces stereotypes? Can you think of an example of a film that challenges stereotypes?

AESTHETICS IN EVERYDAY LIFE

April 10 How Does Aesthetics Figure in Everyday Life?

Readings: John Dewey, “Aesthetic Qualities” (pp. 611-616)

To think about for class: When have you had an experience that was really “an experience” in Dewey’s sense?

April 15 Review

April 17 Exam III

April 22 Magic Moments – How Do They Happen? (Japanese Aesthetics) – J11

Readings: Sei Shonagon, “The Pillow Book” (pp. 617-619) and Garret Sokoloff, “By Pausing before a Kicho” (pp. 620- 627)

April 24 Does Cultural Difference Prove that It’s All Relative? (Japanese Aesthetics, continued) – J12

Readings: Donald Keene, “Japanese Aesthetics” (pp. 678- 687) and Yuriko Saito, “The Japanese Appreciation of Nature” (pp. 140-147)

April 29 Does Art Make Us Better People? Can It Make Us Worse?

Reading: Anna Deveare Smith, “Introduction to Fires in the Mirror” (pp. 639-646)

JOURNAL ENTRIES 7-12 DUE

To think about for class: Do you think a bad moral outlook necessarily makes for bad art?

May 1 Where Does Art Fit in Our Lives?

Reading: Walter Pater, “A Quickened Sense of Life” (pp. 169-163)

FINAL WRITTEN PROJECT DUE

NO FINAL EXAM

PHL 317K Introduction to Philosophy of the Arts Higgins Spring 2014

Short Writing Assignment: A Beautiful Artwork

Due in Class, Thursday, January 23, 2014

For this assignment, you must go to the Blanton Museum of Art (use your UT ID cards to get free admission) and find an artwork that you consider beautiful. Then write one to two pages explaining what features of the work (or your experience of the work) justify your claim that this work is beautiful. Include a brief description of the artwork that is clear and complete enough that the rest of your comments make sense Consider the role that each of the following may play. Discuss only those points that are relevant to the work that you are considering.

1. Medium and making—What materials did the artist use in making this work of art? What specific techniques did the artist employ here? How was this artwork made? Was this medium or process of making new to the time period or to this artist, or was it a more traditional technique? Do you think that the medium and process of a making of a work can influence whether or not it is beautiful?

2. Artist—What facts about the artist are important for us to know in order to better understand this artwork? How old was the artist at the time of making this work? Is any knowledge about the artist important for determining how beautiful the work is?

3. Context—What events occurred in the world and/or the life of the artist when this work was made? Do any historical events that you know about have a bearing on the artwork? Think about the context surrounding the artist and the work in terms of historical events, technological developments, religious beliefs, scientific explorations, the work of other artists, etc. Are these considerations relevant to a work’s beauty?

4. Content—Does the artwork have a clear narrative (i.e. can we tell what is going on in the work, or part of the work)? If so, what is it? What is your interpretation of this work? What does the work mean? Is the meaning obvious, or is it obscure? Can these questions be relevant to how beautiful a work is?

You are not expected to do any research about the work beyond what information is provided as part of the exhibition. 10

PHL 317K Introduction to Philosophy of the Arts Higgins Spring 2014

Aesthetics Journal

Entries 1-6 due in class on March 6, 2014

Entries 7-12 due in on April 29, 2014

Keep a journal recording your responses to the following questions, which are related to some of the readings. (The day’s discussion with which each is connected is marked in the syllabus.) Each journal entry should be no less than one, and no more than two pages, typed, double-spaced. The required length of the journal assignment is between 12 and 24 pages total over the course of the semester.

By the end of the semester you must have an entry on each of the following topics:

J1 — Is there any kind of art or content within art that shouldn’t be allowed? How would you justify your position? [Plato]

J2 — Describe a case of an artwork you’ve experienced in which Aristotle’s requirement of closure was violated. Did you find this disturbing in any way? Explain. [Aristotle]

J3 — Is there a correct answer to the question of whether or not a work of art is good? Why or why not? [Hume]

4 — Have you ever changed your mind about whether or not an artwork was good? What changed your mind? Did anyone else persuade you? {Hume and Kant}

5 — If a painting reminds you of your mother, are you necessarily a bad judge of whether or not it’s beautiful? Explain. [Kant]

6 — What is an example of an artwork that reflects what’s important in our time? What features of the artwork enable it to do this? [Hegel]

7 — Does it matter to you that the replicas of ancient sculptures in the Blanton are replicas? Would you have a different experience if you were able to encounter the real thing (assuming it were intact) than you do encountering the replica? Explain your position. [Danto]

8 — Should a work of public art make sense to most people in the community if the public is to fund it? Explain your position. [Wolfe and Harries]

9 — Do you think sentimentality is necessarily a flaw in an artwork? Why or why not? [Calinescu and Kundera]

J10 — Choose a film that you thought reinforced a stereotype and describe how you think it did so. Choose a film that you thought challenged a stereotype and describe how you think it did so. [Gooding-Williams and Carroll]

J11 — Describe an experience that you would consider okashi [Sokoloff]

a) briefly describe the circumstances that provoked the experience.

b) describe what the experience was like.

c) explain how, and to what extent, it matched the account given by Sokoloff.

d) Explain how your experience differed from what is described in the account of Sokoloff.

e) Mention any ways that the experience surprised you.

If you do not think that you have had an experience of this sort, describe an experience you have had that resembles it in some ways and explain why it fell short of being an okashi experience.

J12 — Describe an experience that strikes you as a case of or similar to mono no aware [Saito and Sokoloff]

a) briefly describe the circumstances that provoked the experience.

b) describe what the experience was like.

c) explain how, and to what extent, it matched the accounts given by Saito and Sokoloff.

d) Explain how your experience differed from what is described in the accounts of Saito and Sokoloff.

e) Mention any ways that the experience surprised you.

If you do not think that you have had an experience of one of these sorts, describe an experience you have had that resembles it in some ways and explain why it fell short of being an instance of mono no aware. 12

PHL 317K Introduction to Philosophy of the Arts Higgins Spring 2014

Final Written Project: Why Is It Art?

Length: Approximately 5 pages

Due: Thursday, May 1, 2014

Choose a contemporary artwork that you consider art but recognize as a work that some people might not consider art. Your aim in this paper will be to explain why this work is a work of art and whether or not it succeeds as art, drawing on various views that we have considered. Include a brief description of the artwork that is clear and complete enough that the rest of your comments will make sense to someone who is unfamiliar with the work you have chosen to discuss. In the course of your discussion, you should present answers to each of the following questions.

1. Would this artwork count as art from the standpoint of the artistic tradition (as it existed in the 18th century, when art was generally assumed to be representational)? What features of the work make it count as art according to that tradition, or what features prevent it from counting as art according to that tradition?

2. Explain the difference between a functional and a procedural definition of art. Can you offer a functional definition of art that would establish that this work is an instance of art? If so, what function does the artwork serve that qualifies it as an artwork? If not, is there a procedural definition that qualifies it as art? Explain.

3. What does it take for an artwork to succeed as art according to Tolstoy? Does this work succeed according to his criterion/criteria? Explain why.

4. What does it take for an artwork to succeed as art according to Dewey? Does this work succeed according to his criterion/criteria? Explain why.

5. Summarize Danto’s view of what makes something art. Why would the work you have chosen count as art according to Danto? Does Danto’s theory help you to understand the work? Explain why or why not?

6. Summarize Binkley’s view of what makes something art. Why would the work you have chosen count as art according to Binkley? Is there any way that the work could fail to be art on Binkley’s view? Explain.

7. Finally, explain why you think the work you have chosen is art. Which, if any of the positions of the thinkers considered above do you find persuasive? Why? If you do not find any of the positions considered above persuasive, what aspects of those positions do you find persuasive, and what has been left out.